Door for merchandise containers



1935- M. CHAMBERS 2,021,290

DOOR FOR MERCHANDISE CONTAINERS Filed May 14, 1954 6 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.I 3 C K Ill @gSSESEd Z? I Isa/1w 2%3615 W BY Nov. 19, 1935.

|. M. CHAMBERS' DOOR FOR MERCHANDISE CONTAINERS Filed May 14, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 a m Q W] TNESSES;

INVENTOR:

Isaac Mmmbers,

Wwd.

, TORNEYS.

1935- I. M. CHAMBERS DOOR FOR MERCHANDISE CONTAINERS Filed May 14, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VENTOR: lisaaa Mflmmbcns, BY

WITNESSES: 15m

@TORNEYS.

NW; 19, 1935. I. M. CHAMBERS DOOR FOR MERCHANDISE CONTAINERS Filed May 14, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR:

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f; ITTORNEYS.

9 1935. 1. M. CHAMBERS W L DOOR FOR MERCHANDISE CONTAINERS Filed May 14, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 l N V EN TOR:

WITNESSES: jfiL 13am Mflimmmiis, @fiww% BY a W (ATTORNEYS.

IIIIIIIIIII/IA Patented Nov. 19, 1935 UNITED STATES ranges i ATENT QFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to doors for merchandise containers and more particularly to telescopic doors on railway shipping containers.

In the past, doors on railway shipping containers have been of the hinge type which requires a platform clearance for opening the door. It has been considered desirable in this art to get away from hinged doors completely. It is very difiicult to load a container with the hinged door because there is no support to the contents during the loading over the large door space until the door is closed. To force a hinged door strains severely the hinges and further the contents are not easily piled up to the plane of the door opening with the door open and maintained there until the door can be swung shut. Containers having hinged doors are therefore frequently loosely loaded with vacant space that might have been filled. My invention aims to avoid hinged doors by providing a container with sliding doors which can be progressively loaded from the end walls by sliding the door out as loading progresses, thereby making a load which is more compact and more quickly accomplished than would be the case with the old hinged type door.

Accordingly the object of my invention is the provision of a railway shipping container having a sliding telescopic door instead of a hinged door.

Another object of my invention is the provision'for containers of a telescopic door which will not bind.

Another object of my invention is the provision for containers of a telescopic door with an efficient weather seal between sections making up the door.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof which follows and which has reference to the accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings:

Fig. I represents a side view of a railway shipping container equipped with a pair of telescopic doors embodying my invention.

Fig. II represents a partial plan section taken along the lines II-II of Fig. I.

Fig. III represents a partial plan section on a lower plane, drawn to a larger scale and taken along the lines III-III of Fig. I.

Fig. IV represents a partial plan section similar to Fig. II with the doors telescoped to the open position.

Fig. V represents a vertical section taken along the lines V-V of Fig. I.

Fig. VI represents a fragmentary vertical sec tion taken along the lines VI-VI of Fig. I.-

Fig. VII represents a perspective view of the 5 roller housing fastened to the top and bottom of the inner section of each door.

Fig. VIII represents a perspective View of the same roller housing showing the other side from that shown in Fig. VII.

Fig. IX represents a broken out fragmentary v side elevation of a door construction embodying a modified form of my invention.

Fig. X represents a plan sectiontaken along the lines X-X of Fig. IX, and

Fig. XI represents a vertical section taken along the lines XI-XI of Fig. IX.

The preferred form or embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings comprises generally a container body I, a pair of telescopic doors 2, each made up of sections 3 and roller housings H and [2 attached at the tops and bottoms of sections 3 and 4 respectively, rollers 5 mounted in the housings H and I2, tracks 6, inner sheets 7, and a break-away locking device 8. The modified form of my invention will be dealt with specifically after the primary form has been described.

The container I is of a conventional type aside from its doors 2, having side walls 9, end walls IE1, bottom Iii, top I! and lifting hooks it. Over the door opening is a drain strip H) which prevents water from the container top H running down the doors 2 and into joints between door sections. This strip I9 is shaped in a trough-like cross section as shown in Fig. V and riveted to the side wall 9. In order to provide a top frame 26 for the door, a horizontal shelf is formed as shown in Fig. V to support the tracks 6. The drain strip I9 is riveted to the top frame 28 with the usual gasket 2?. at the joint. The inner sheet I is fastened to a flange 23 and the angle iron 2 I by screws 24 and extends from the edge of the door opening to the end wall ll! of the container I. There is one inner sheet 1 on each side of the door opening to provide a recess between the side wall 9 and the inner sheet 7 to receive the telescoped doors 2 as shown in Fig. IV. This inner sheet I is secured by the screws 24 so that it may be removed.

The telescopic doors 2 each comprise two sliding sections 3 and 4 of which one is an edge section 3 and the other is an inner section 4. These sections 3 and 4 are formed from stout metal sheeting and are identical as to top and 55 bottom. A metal stiffening piece is riveted across the central portion of each strip 3 and 4. Roller housings H and ii are riveted to the top and bottom of each edge section 3 and inner section respectively, but screws could be used instead of rivets in order to facilitate repairs. These roller housings l l and i2 are cast integrally with guard flanges 3i, and provided with rivet holes 32 for fastening the housings H and [IE to the sections 3 and i by rivets. The holes 33 are to receive the axles 3 of the rollers 5 and are machined accordingly. The roller housings ll differ only slightly from the roller housings I2 by a bracing lug formed integrally with the latter and whose purpose will appear later herein.

As there are two sections 3 and 4 to each door 2, the two tracks 5 are provided to receive the rollers 5 at the top and bottom of each section 3 and 3. The two adjacent tracks 5 at both the top and the bottom of the door opening are formed integrally from a U-shaped piece of metal which is riveted in one case to the top frame 2e and in the other case to the bottom l3 of the container l. These tracks 6 extend across the door opening and back into the recess formed between the sheets 1 and the side walls 9. The grooved rollers 5 are freely engaged by the tracks 6 so that the doors roll easily on the tracks 6. The spaces between the tracks 6 are drained by drain holes 13 which are bored at proper intervals, through the bottom 6. The guard flanges 3| of the roller housings H and i2 are designed Y to cooperate with the tracks 0 and serve to retain the door should a roller 5 break, and also to exclude rain and dust from direct access to the interior of the container I.

These sections 3 and i are so arranged that the edge section 3 is the outer section which allows the cargo or merchandise to be loaded tightly and compactly against the extended inner section before the edge section 3 is rolled shut. The merchandise is loaded from the end walls It out towards the door opening and as the loading progresses the inner section 4 is first pulled out and finally the edge section 3 is rolled out. This process is called progressive loading and by it a tighter fit of merchandise is secured.

The inner sections 4 are provided with projecting flanges 3G and 31 which are formed integrally with the sections 4 by bending over the edges and they extend perpendicularly from the face thereof. One of these flanges 35 cooperates in overlapping relation with a flange 38 formed on each vertical edge of the door opening. The flange 33 is strengthened by the lug 35 of the roller housing l2 to which it is riveted as shown in the drawings, see Figs. II-IV. The other flange 31 of the inner section is similar to the flange 33 but shorter and needs no special bracing means like the lug 35 which braces flange 36. However, the flange 31 is secured to the adjacent end of the roller housing l2 by the bolt 39 which gives considerable strength. This flange 31 cooperates in overlapping relation with a similar flange d5 on the edge section 3. On the adjacent edges of the two edge sections 3 are riveted angle pieces which project outwardly to form cooperating edge faces. Weather-stripping 56 of the usual type is shown between the angle pieces 35 where the two doors 2 meet and also between the other overlapping cooperating flanges 35 and 38, 31 and 43, previously described. The weather-stripping between the flange 33 and the flange 38 on the edge of the door opening is secured to the flange: 35 by a metal strip 41, screws 38 and nuts 49.

The

weather-stripping 50 between the flange 31 on the inner section 4 and the similar flange 45 on the edge door 3 is fastened between the flange and a metal strip 52 by the screws 5! and nuts 53.

The locking device 8 is of the break-away type and is the subject of another patent application filed by me on the 30th day of March, 1334, under Serial No. 718,129. It consists generally of a handle piece 6 l pivoted to a lever 62 which in turn is pivoted on one of the edge sections 3, as shown. On the end of the handle piece 6! opposite the handle proper are mounted lugs 63, which are engaged by a cooperating element 54 attached to the other edge section 3. When the doors 2 are locked together by the locking device 5, the hole 65 in the handle piece El is in registry with the hole 66 in the free end of the lever 62 and the locking pin 51 is thrust through these holes, effectively securing the locking device 3 and the doors 2. It is clear that other types of locking de vices could be substituted without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The operation of these doors 2, while obvious from the above description of the structure, may be further clarified by the following description of a complete cycle of opening and closing. As-

suming the doors 2 to be closed with the break away locking device 8 locked by the locking pin 51 as shown in Fig. I, opening of the doors is accomplished by removing the locking pin 31, grasping the handle 6! and pulling it away from the face of the doors 2 which causes the doors 2 to be separated, in the usual manner of this type of break-away locking devices. The end sections 3 are rolled towards the end walls l!) of the container on the tracks 6; the flange '55 contacts with the lug 35 which forms part of the flange 355 and the inner doors4 are then carried along with the edge doors 3. When the doors 2 are completely open, all the doors sections 3 and 4 are pushed back into the recesses between the inner sheets 1 and the outer side walls 9 of the container I. When the container l is being loaded, the doors 2 are usually closed progressively as explained above, but for the purposes of this explanation, the cycle of operation mentioned above is completed by drawing the edge sections 3 along on the tracks until the flanges 43 take up against the weather-stripping 53 on the flanges 31 of the inner sections 4 and then the edge sections 3 pull the inner sections along due to the overlapping relation between the flanges 31 and 46. In this manner the edge sections 3 are brought sufliciently close together to permit the engaging of the looking device 8 by which the angle pieces 45 are tightly forced together, pressing the weatherstripping 53 between them to form a tight joint. This completes the cycle of operation showing how the flanges cooperate with each other to push and pull the inner sections 4 along with the edge sections 3 as the doors 2 are opened and closed. 7

Turning now to a consideration of the modified form of my invention referred to above, it will be noticed that the parts of the modified'form which are the same as the corresponding parts in the preferred embodiment above are given the same numbers with the addition of a letter subscript to designate such analagous parts in the modified form.

The modified form of my invention difiers from the preferred embodiment primarily in that the sections 3a and 4a of the telescoping doors 2a telescope completely outside of the container side wall 9a and there is no inner sheet 'a' and consequently no recess to receive the telescoping doors Za. The side wall 9a in the modified form occupies a position similar to the inner sheet 7 of the preferred embodiment but is formed with a flange 38a extending outward to cooperate with a flange strip ll bolted to the edge of the inner door 4a. Weather-stripping a is provided between these flanges 38a and 'II in the same manner as explained above in connection with the preferred embodiment of my inven-- tion. The drain strip [9a is somewhat different from the drain strip 19 and has a pronounced apron 10 formed integral therewithto protect the contents of the container from direct exposure to the weather through the openings between the top of the doors 2a and the top frame 29a. The construction of the container la at this point is slightly different in the modified form from that shown in the preferred embodiment of my invention which clearly appears in the drawings. Additional drain holes I2 have been provided in the modified form which are not found in the preferred embodiment. The operation of this modified form of my invention is identical with the operation described above for the preferred embodiment. Certain advantages flow from having the doors 2a telescope completely without the side walls 9a, chief of which is the ready access for repair work and adjustments of all moving parts.

My invention thus provides a telescopic door for a merchandise container which effectively supplants the old hinged door. The rollers 5 at the tops and bottoms of the sections 3 and 4 prevent binding due to the narrowness of the sections 3 and 4, and at the same time are designed to make the sections 3 and 4 interchangeable as to top and bottom. The advantages of progressive loading are apparent and the ingenious way in which the roller housings II and I2 cooperate through the guard flanges 3| with the tracks 6 prevents any danger of the sections 3 and 4 falling from the containers should the rollcrs 5 be damaged. This feature also provides ventilation into the container without the disadvantage of rain and cinders having free ingress to the merchandise within the container. As Water collects between the tracks it is of course drained off by the drains l3 provided for that purpose. This invention therefore provides a practical telescopic door specially adapted to the requirements of a shipping container. While my invention has been described in some detail with reference to a specific embodiment, various changes in the form of apparatus used are within the contemplation of the invention and such changes should not be deemed to constitute a departure from the spirit of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a merchandise container a telescopic door having two single sections, grooved supporting wheels attached to the base of each section, grooved guiding wheels attached to the top of each section, tracks for said wheels fastened to the container at the bottom and top of the door opening, guard flanges attached to the top and bottom of each said section to straddle said tracks, an inwardly projecting flange attached to the inner edge of the edge section to cooperate by a hooking action with a similar but outwardly extending flange on the outer edge of the other section as the door is extended in closing, a pair of similar cooperating flanges, one mounted on the inner edge of said inner section and the other on the edge of the door opening to cooperate as the door is telescoped in closing, and an inner sheet separating said door from the interior of the container when open.

ISAAC M. CHAMBERS. 

